Ice & Winter

An old and rusty trawler "Golden Rose" moaning by the dock in Reposaari fishing harbor, Western Finland. The first Herring Gulls in the background from 5.20

https://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210228/

(MKH8020ab 80cm, MixPre 32>24/48, no processing done, Flac)

Old Trawler moaning - 28/2/2021 - Reposaari Harbor

Early morning by little Rengaskari Reef, less than a mile from our shore. This is an excerpt from an over night recording. Had to do a low cut as there's been some low rumble from an unknown source that has affected all nightly recordings of this spring from the sea side. (and is still audible)
Birds: Common Eider, Greylag Goose, Barnacle Goose, Mew Gull

Updating www.rupuranta.net

(MKH8020 ab80cm, MixPre II 32>24, Flac)

Morning by Rengaskari Reef - 20/4/2021 - Makholma Finland

Like the sound of an entering thunderstorm, the dumpers and dozers will come nearer from day to day. The Cormorants of small Järviluoto Island will not have too much time. No island is an island.

For project Chorus sinensis / www.theconferenceofthebirds.net  

(AT4022 ab60cm, MixPre3, no processing, Flac)

edit:  16.29 signals from a ship, possible Aurora Botnia

Birds and Bulldozers - 4/6/2021 - Jarviluoto Cormorants

A smaller colony of Black-headed Gulls is on tiny islet just by Makholma village harbor. In the evening before night they are most active, keeping time on the roofs of the fisherman's huts. After about two weeks, the chicks are grown up and then some morning the harbor is plain empty.

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210702/

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, 24/48, no processing, Flac)

Black-headed Gulls - 2/7/2021  - of Makholma Shore

From little Rayhat Reef (4 miles from our shore) before sunrise at 03.40 am. with Herring Gulls awakening. The microphones were placed in a Buckthorn where a flock of young Starlings kept night. (4.00>) (The low rumble is from a very distant ship. From 15 hours of recording, the noise is here as lowest)

Updating www.rupuranta.net

(MKH8020 ab80cm, MixPre3 32float>24/48, no processing, Flac)

Sunrise with Herring Gulls - 15/7/2021 - Rayhat Reef

A small flock of sixty Migrating Whooper Swans in the middle of night resting on Makholma Bay, Western Finland.  The tempo of the yoking will increase to the end. The nearby shore with forest is giving a nice echo. 

Video from the Bay:  http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/211114a/

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, 24/48, Flac)

Whooper Swans  - 14/11/2021 - Makholma Bay

Microphones between two ice blocks on the frozen shallow shore with a small swell under the ice.

www.rupuranta.net

(Sennheiser KE4 capsules moded by Verdeaudio, Sony D100, 24/48, no processing, Flac)

Tight Ice - 25/12/2021 - Loukkeennokka Shore

Spring arrives in our neighborhood 25/2/2022.

www.rupuranta.net

(MKH8020 ab80cm, 24/48, no processing, no mix, flac)

Deus ex machina - 25/2/2022 - Makholma Woods

A little flock of Whooper Swans, arrived a few days ago, one hour after sunset at Rengaskari Reef one mile from our home shore.  The sea is frozen a long way out, but by the shallow waters of the reef there's a small piece of free water.  The picture is by sunset as I leaved the mics on the reef.

Updating www.rupuranta.net  - Better description maybe later ;-

(MKH8020 ab80cm,  MixPre, 32>24/48, no processing, Flac)

A frozen Reef  - 15/3/2022 - Rengaskari Finland

A second recording from Rengaskari Reef, snowy and frozen in the middle of the icy sea.  To my big surprise, there was a Blackbird singing in early morning, one hour before sunrise.

Updating www.rupuranta.net 

(MKH8020 ab80cm, MixPre 32>24/48, -6dB, Flac)

A frozen Reef - 16/3/2022 -  Rengaskari Finland / The Blackbird

Enäjärvi is a small lake near town Pori only one mile from the Sea. The lake is tightly between a highway and a railway and the traffic noise is apparent even night time. This was the first place for an inland colony of Great Cormorants in Finland. Today there’s hundred of nests in two small islets in the middle of the lake. 

 I made an over night recording and this starts from 04.40 in the morning, half an hour before sun rise with the Cormorants just being active, though not as most. Though the lake was still mostly frozen the Cormorants have been more than two weeks there. This is the most silent moment of the night of traffic, still there’s a train passing.

The train is carrying coal (or anthracite) from Novosibirsk in Russia, a distance of 4000 km.  Each train is making two weeks or longer time on the rails to Tahkoluoto Port on the Finnish West Coast.  From there the coal is shipped rounding Cape Hope to Bangladesh. Normally there's  2-3 trains passing daily in spite of the sanction policy against Russia. 

Listen with headphones.

 http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/220421/

(AT4022 ab60cm MixPre2 32>24/48 no processing Flac)

Cormorant Night - 21/4/2022 - Enajarvi Finland

On last ices by Makholma shore with a swell from nearby open water. Four White-tailed Eagles, two Ravens and a few Crows are feasting waste fish left on the ice by a local fisherman 26/2/2023.

MKH8020 + SD702  AB 80cm, 24/48, no processing, +3dB in post.

Icy Swell - 26/2/2023 - with White-tailed Eagle and Raven

A recording under a big Fir in our backyard on a windy day with gale force wind. During the strongest gusts, the fir keeps a higher whining (or hissing) sound that is not commonly heared unless strong wind enough.

MKH8020 ab80 cm, SD702, 24 bit wav, nothing (except fade in and out) done in edit.

Listen with headphones, thanks!

A big Fir whining - 7/10/2023 - Makholma Finland

Kauhajoen Hukanluoma saa alkunsa Lauhanvuoren pohoispuolella olevalta Lumikankaan vedenjakaja-alueelta ja virtaa jo vuolaana luomana Isojoen Uuron kylän paikkeilla 23/10/2023.

Paras kuuntelukokemus kuulokkeilla, AB stereo.  

(MKH 80, SD 702, 24 bit waw, A+B stereo)

A stream in the Finnish forest - 23/10/2023 - Hukanluoma Finland

Pieni metsäpuro putouksineen solisee Kullaan Kakkurin metsätien varrella marraskuun hiljaisuudessa 9/11/2023.

A small stream in the Finnish forest in the mid of winter silence 9/11/2023 in Kullaa, Kakkurin tie, Finland.

(AT4022 A+B, MixPre6, orig. 32bit float, here as 24/waw)

A tiny stream in the forest - 9/11/2023- Kakkuri Finland

Near Kauhajoki in Western Finland is a stream running one mile in a deeper walley. The sound from the stream has an echo interreferring from the walley sides.

Katikankanjonin seinämät heijastavat ääntä ja muodostavat tunnusomaisen interferenssin puron solinaan.

Kauhajoki, Kolmentuulenlakki, Katikka, Katikankanjoni, 28/6/2018

Katikan kanjoni - 27/6/2018 - Katikka Canyon

Early night out on Makholma Bay in cold -15C while the ice is freezing more. A cold inversion brings even distant sounds audible. The picture is taken near the mics during recording.  And as usual, headphones recommended!

Updating www.baltic.fi

(MKH 8020 spaced, SD 702, 24/48, upload as 24bit flac)

Ice Chill - 8/2/2017 - Night on freezing Makholma Bay

Though little Rengaskari Reef by Makholma Bay, Western Finland, is still surrounded with rather tough ice (was with bicycle there) the first Gulls along with migrating Crows are there. The Crows, one Raven (22.15-23.15 + a jet) and two White Tailed Eagle (4.00-5.45, 8.50 and 30.30)were having dinner with some fish a fisherman had leaved outside on the ice.

As it was a windy day with an 10 m/s from South, the recording was done from the shelter of a lonely Juniper. The wind and gusts are apparent coming through the needles. And as usual, headphones recommended!

(MKH8020 spaced, SD702, no eq, upload as 24bit flac)

A frozen Reef awakening - 13/3/2017 - Rengaskari Reef

There's two old empty oil storage tanks beside Tahkoluoto harbor. The tanks are closed, but have one open maintenance hatch through I put the microphones inside. I waited for a stormy day to do that, and so it sounds. Headphones recommended! 

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/180922/

(MKH8020 ab50cm, SD702, nothing done in edit, 24/48 flac)

Jan Eerala Finland

The Black Hole - 22/9/2018 - Tahkoluoto Finland

Half an hour of a whole night recording from the shelter of a hut  by the shoreline of Makholma Bay, Western Finland. The first migrating Whooper Swans (and a pair of Greylag Goose) are resting night time on the sea ice. Water or thaw is dripping on the roof of the hut and a fox starts to cry.

Updating www.baltic.fi

(MKH8020 ab60cm, SD702, 24/48, 24 bit flac)

Night by the Ice Field - 19/3/2019 - Makholma Bay

Two hours from inside a lonely barn out on Preiviiki Fields during a stormy night. Just pick your headphones and relax!

A little about the title:  Its status as a catchphrase for bad writing comes from the opening sentence of English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford [3] 

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/190913/

(MKH8020 ab60cm, MixPre3, no processing, 24/48, flac)

A Dark and Stormy Night - 13/9/2019 - Preiviiki Fields

Winter wind inside the grey barn in Leistila Fields, Western Finland. (Seems that I have to do a recording in this same barn every midwinter on a windy day, but it will still be different every time)

Listen with headphones only, thanks!

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/200205/

(MKH8020 ab60cm, SD702, nothing done in edit, 24/48, flac)

Winter Fields - 21/1/2020 - Leistila Fields

The last days of February were colder and a solid ice of about three inches formed partially one mile out to sea. The Whooper Swans had arrived past week but what I think could be Bean Goose appeared for the first time. At 9 min a fox is crying. 

The sea water was rising due to an arriving low front. This and because the ice was new and solid, causes the crackling sounds. I was lucky to experience this, as it is absolutely not a common phenomenon, at least not here by the sea shore.  The picture with a big Venus and new moon was taken during the recording.

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/200228/

(AT4022 ab50cm, MixPre3, 24/48, flac)

Night by new Ice - 28/2/2020 - Makholma Shore

Inside a barn in a Blizzard with snowfall and hails. Leistila Fields, Western Finland. Listen with headphones only.

Updating www.rupuranta.net

(MKH8020 ab60cm, MixPre3, 32>24/48, nothing else done in edit, flac)

A Barn in a Blizzard - 13/4/2020 - Leistila Fields

Late summer day on the Cormorant Reef of Marjakari, Luvia, Western Finland. The  young birds have leaved their nests three weeks ago and are keeping flying exercises in the shallower waters of the shoreline.  The mosquitos are accompanying. 

A faint seven minutes with least motor boat rumble from the recording of nine hours.

(MKH8020 ab60cm, MixPre3, 32>24/48, flac)

Late Summer - 15/8/2020 - Luvia Cormorant Reef

A warm night with an easterly wind and full moon and small flocks of Greater white-fronted Goose and Barnacle Goose migrating over a small forest beside the shore near our house in Makholma Finland. Recording from 02.45-03.00
Headphones recommended.

(MKH8020 ab80cm, pointing upward, 24/48, +10dB in post, flac)

Arctic Geese migrating - 4/10/2020 - Makholma Night

Deforestation in Finland has accelerated tremendously in recent years. Most old forests have already been cutted, but also logging growing forests  for the pulp industry is still increasing. When the logging machine comes, the scene is like from a horror movie. Like the sounding too. 

A little piece of old forest that had remain near our home was nearly clear cutted brutally. It took four days to do that, and this recording is from the third day.  A Black Woodpecker cried hearth-breakable during the first day and a Raven pair flew over and over again during all the days of logging. 

This piece is recorded near my bird feeder. The Raven is heard best between 5-6 and from 11.15. The other birds are mostly tits of the woods. Between 9-10.30 a Willow Tit (most likely) is singing weakly it's fall song. In the picture the logging machine is resting for a moment. Enjoy with headphones, thanks!

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, 24/48, +6dB in post, flac)

https://holotna.pic.fi/kuvat/2020/201023_3.jpg

The Final Cut - 15/10/2020 - Makholma Forest

This has been a stormy fall, and in Finland has been already 40 days with stormy wind speeds as the average is 27 a year.  A small, but intense low pressure passed over creating wind speeds up to 31,3 m/s in the gusts and 27 m/s as average. 

I couldn’t resist recording this storm just in our backyard as it was evident when I opened the front door in the morning that this wind is going to make damage. (The picture)

Recording storms creates mostly undefined white noise that’s not very pleasant to listen. But it seems, that when the wind gets hard enough, there occurs (more or less) strange noise patterns with regular shapes that can make it sound interesting. 

In situ I could hear cars passing and chainsaws running.  I hope there’s a bit of this weird noise left in this recording, at least when listening with headphones.

And yes, when the gusts were as strongest, two trees come down. One pine on the roof of our neighbors sauna building 6.50 and an other one with the tree trunk breaking 8.28 

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, nothing done in edit, 24/48 flac)

Storm in my Backyard - 19/11/2020 - Makholma Finland

Visiting an abandoned farm in the outer woods of Luvia village on a rainy and windy day I come upon the windy howl from one really old and big aspen surrounded by younger firs. It was a little before the farmyard, so that the gusts could gather some strength from the more open yard behind. (There’s water dripping and some very small rain, but the sound that sounds like a rain shower in the end of most gusts is not rain, it’s the branches of the firs. I’m not sure if I’ve ever paid attention to this rather distinctive sound before. It was clearly heard against the jet like lower sound from the big aspen and the microphones were placed under one branch.)

I like this recording a lot but due to the loss of quality of the mp3 here the 24/48 flac is downloadable. Though be sure to listen with headphones.

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, no processing, 24/48 flac)

Old Aspen and Firs - 21/11/2020 - Ruusnellinloukko Luvia

This winter first ices come one week after years shift, which is nearly two months later than in gone days. After walking one mile along the shoreline of Loukkeennokka Reef, I found some lousy ice flakes quirking with one Whooper Swan calling in the background.

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210109/

(Sennheiser KE4 capsules, MixPre 32/48, +3 dB in post, 24/48 flac)

First Ices - 9/1/2021 -  Loukkeennokka Shore

A small swell pressing water and air between the ground ice and a bigger floe. Free water still, though the weather become colder. Recorded on a beautiful day with no wind and still open sea by Loukkeennokka shore in 

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210128/

(Sennheiser KE4 ab50cm, MixPre 32>24, no processing, 24/48 flac)

Snoring Sea Ice - 28/1/2021 - Loukkeennokka Shore

This is a compilation from an over night recording in Kirpakka woods with 15 small cracks in chronological order and as last a bigger bang from one long recording earlier in february.

I had the microphones out in Kirpakka small preservation area over night (from sunset to midday) during the coldest days when temp went down to -20C.  There was practically no sign of life except some road noise and machines from a nearby farm.  Daytime there were a few Crows and two Ravens, one Great Spotted Woodpecker and in early night the distant call of a Tengman's Owl.  

One recording of 18 hours earlier didn't result in any sound of life except a very weak Crow at 11 am. and the big crack in the end of this recording.

There seems to be a great loss of tits and crossbills in Finnish forests today.

But the trees were keeping a good amount of cracks and pops, specially in the early night when the temperature change was as fastest. 

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210215/

(MKH8020ab80cm, MixPre 32>24/48, no processing, +3dB, flac)

Snaps and cracks - 15/2/2021 - Freezing Kirpakka Forest

Ploughing aural fields in remote North.

Field recordist, bird watcher and a digitized former darkroom rat living in little Makholma village on the West Coast of Finland by the Baltic Sea - 61N 21E

These recordings are done in AB stereo with omnidirectional microphones. With this technique everything in the field will be equally meaningful, even the silence behind the microphones. That's why you should use headphones!

My recordings are merely like a process than individual tracks, and should be considered in the context of my blog-alike site:  www.baltic.fi

For better quality, the tracks are downloadable as 24 bit flac. For commercial use, please take contact.

You will find my videowork here: https://vimeo.com/holotna/videos 

And pics from the places of recordings: https://holotna.pic.fi/kuvat/


Tekijä on Makholman kalarannan liepeillä majaansa pitävä digitalisoitunut pimiörotta. Intohimona linnut, meri ja vanhat puupurret.

Jan Eerala

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks